At the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, Lorenzo Piemonti serves as the Director of the Diabetes Research Institute and Chief of the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Transplantation. In addition, he leads the Beta Cell Biology Unit and directs the Human Islet Processing Facility. He previously coordinated the European Consortium for Islet Transplantation, which has been instrumental in providing human beta cell products for both research and clinical applications at HSR, within Italy, and across Europe since 2000.

He holds the position of Professor in Endocrinology at the University “Vita Salute San Raffaele” in Milan and served as a Visiting Professor at Vrije Universiteit of Brussel from 2016 to 2022.

Piemonti’s academic expertise spans diabetes and pancreatology, with specific interests in the interplay between pathophysiology, innovative therapeutics, and precision medicine. His research focuses on advancing the understanding and treatment of diabetes, particularly through beta cell replacement therapies, immune tolerance induction strategies, stem cell research, and dendritic cell biology. He has a specific interest in beta cell differentiation and maturation processes, the development of biomaterials and scaffolds to support islet transplantation, and strategies to protect beta cells from immune-mediated damage in autoimmune diabetes.

Additionally, his work addresses immune tolerance in the context of transplantation, exploring mechanisms to prevent graft rejection while minimizing systemic immunosuppression. His laboratory has also investigated the role of innate immune responses and their influence on adaptive immunity in diabetes and transplantation, with a focus on dendritic cells and their tolerogenic potential.

In the broader realm of regenerative medicine, Piemonti’s research investigates the differentiation and reprogramming of stem cells, aiming to generate functional insulin-producing cells for therapeutic purposes. He has also contributed to the development of bioengineered pancreas and organoids as platforms for studying diabetes pathogenesis and testing novel therapies. Beyond diabetes, he has conducted significant work in pancreatic oncology, particularly the interactions between cancer cells, stromal cells, and the tumor microenvironment. His interests include leveraging regenerative medicine tools and immune-modulating therapies to explore innovative strategies for treating pancreatic cancer.

As a physician-scientist, Piemonti is deeply committed to translational research, aiming to bridge the gap between cutting-edge scientific discoveries and their practical application in clinical settings. This includes designing clinical trials for cell replacement therapies and immune interventions and integrating high-dimensional data to tailor precision medicine approaches for diabetes and related disorders.

Currently, Piemonti serves as a Section Editor for Cell Transplantation – The Regenerative Medicine Journal and as an Associate Editor for Transplant International and the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation. Previously, he served on the editorial board of Acta Diabetologia.

In leadership roles, he is the President of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (IPITA) for 2025–2027 under The Transplantation Society (TTS). He is also a member of the steering committee for the European Pancreas and Islet Transplant Registry (EPITR, 2020–2025). He previously served as a member of the National Board and Scientific Coordinator of the Italian Society of Diabetes (SID, 2020–2024), as part of the committee of the European Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (EPITA) within the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT, 2011–2017), as a member of the National Committee for Food Safety (2018–2021, Italian Ministry of Health), and as Councilor (2015–2019) and Treasurer (2019–2023) of IPITA.

Publication Activity (January 2025)

Lorenzo Piemonti has authored a total of 336 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals surveyed in PubMed. His H-index (as of January 20, 2025) is 68 on Web of Science, 72 on Scopus, and 83 on Google Scholar. From 2020 to the present, he has authored 115 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals, with a cumulative impact factor of 905.128 (mean impact factor: 7.871). His work has been cited over 30,000 times according to Google Scholar